This invention relates to an apparatus for diverting products from an input path to a plurality of output paths. The invention finds particular utility in diverting diapers for multiple lane stacking, and the invention will be explained in conjunction with diapers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,475 describes an apparatus for stacking a plurality of diapers. When the desired number of diapers is accumulated, a flighted conveyor pauses and a pusher removes the full count stack from the conveyor. Another type of stacker could use a pusher which moves with the flighted conveyor so that the discharge side of the conveyor moves continuously, although at a relatively slow speed.
With either type of stacker the discharge rate of stacked diapers is limited to about 30 to 35 stacks per minute. A typical stack will contain 12 diapers, and the stacking limit is therefore about 30.times.12 or 360 diapers per minute.
The invention substantially increases the stacking rate by diverting the incoming diapers into two or more lanes. When the diapers are fed to the stacker in two lanes, the discharge rate of the machine is doubled. When the diapers are fed to the stacker in three lanes, the discharge rate of the machine is tripled.
The diverting apparatus includes a rotating drum which is interposed between input means which feeds diapers to the drum and output means which provides a plurality of lanes for feeding diapers to the stacker. A plurality of diaper-holding vacuum pucks are mounted on the drum for transverse sliding movement. parallel to the axis of rotation. Each puck holds a diaper as it moves in an arcuate plane between the input means and the output means, and certain of the pucks are cam-actuated to move transversely along a line parallel to the axis of rotation so that each puck is aligned with an additional lane of the output means by the time the puck reaches the discharge section.